LearnAboutMoviePosters.com July 23 2020 THIS WEEKEND— HERITAGE AUCTIONS MOVIE POSTER EVENT Heritage Auctions July 25-26 Movie Posters event will feature almost 700 lots including rarities once thought lost or out of reach, some of movie-poster collecting’s crowning achievements. The never-before-seens. The never-before-solds. See Page 3 PART 1, PART II, PART III OF OUR JULY MAJOR AUCTION ENDED WITH SENSATIONAL RESULTS See Page 9. UPCOMING EVENTS/DEADLINES July 25-26, 2020 Heritage Signature Auction TCM/Bonham’s California Dreaming: Surf and July 29-Aug 12. 2020 Skate in American Film and Culture August 18-Sept. 1, Part I of eMoviePoster.com’s September Major 2020 Auction August 20-Sept. 3, Part II of eMoviePoster.com’s September Major 2020 Auction August 21, 2020 Ewbank’s Movie Poster Auction August 23-Sept. 6, Part III of eMoviePoster.com’s September Major 2020 Auction Sept. 16, 2020 Aste Bolaffi Advertising Posters Auction Deadline for consigning to eMoviePoster.com’s Sept. 25, 2020 21st Annual Halloween Auction Part I of eMoviePoster.com’s 21st Annual Oct. 27-Nov. 10, 2020 Halloween Auction Part II of eMoviePoster.com’s 21st Annual Oct. 29-Nov. 12, 2020 Halloween Auction Part III of eMoviePoster.com’s 21st Annual Nov. 1-Nov. 15, 2020 Halloween Auction Deadline for consigning to eMoviePoster.com’s Nov. 8, 2020 December Major Auction. LAMP’s LAMP POST Film Accessory Newsletter features industry news as well as product and services provided by Sponsors and Dealers of Learn About Movie Posters and the Movie Poster Data Base. To learn more about becoming a LAMP sponsor, click HERE! Add your name to our Newsletter Mailing List HERE! Visit the LAMP POST Archive to see early editions from 2001-PRESENT. The link can be found on the home page nav bar under “General” or click HERE. The LAMPPOST is a publication of LearnAboutMoviePosters.com Telephone: (504) 298-LAMP email: [email protected] 2 Movie Posters Never Seen or Sold, from Frankenstein to Sunrise, Star in Heritage Auctions’ July 25-26 Event Summer sale also features some of collecting’s most coveted offerings DALLAS, Texas (July 2, 2020) – Twenty years and almost 400,000 movie posters later, Heritage Auctions’ Grey Smith thought he’d seen – and sold – them all. Then it came time to compile the almost 700 lots for the July 25-26 Movie Posters event. And there they were: the rarities once thought lost or out of reach, some of movie- poster collecting’s crowning achievements. The never- before-seens. The never- before-solds. “This job is exciting every day,” said Smith, Heritage’s Director of Vintage Posters. “When a new rarity comes in, it’s thrilling. That’s what makes this such a wonderful hobby. Anyone who says they’ve seen it all in movie posters isn’t telling you the truth. There is always material out there that’s exciting.” That’s especially true in the July sale, which offers among its many gems these astonishing finds: 3 The gorgeous one-sheet for Sunrise, director F.W. Murnau’s first American film, released in 1927 and considered one of the greatest silent films of all time (and a proto film noir, to boot). Shockingly, it’s the only known one-sheet poster for the landmark film that won three Academy Awards, among them Best Cinematography and Best Unique and Artistic Picture, a long-retired honor once on par with Best Picture. And peering over the roses is the beatific image of Best Actress winner Janet Gaynor, the unnamed wife who’s nearly the victim of a murderous plot conceived by her philandering husband and his big-city mistress. 4 There are some lobby cards and window cards for Sunrise known to exist. But nothing like this – nothing this large, this meaningful, this significant.“ It’s such a great piece,” said Smith. There’s also the unsettling, electrifying French poster for Universal Studios’ Frankenstein, released in France six months after its U.S. debut in 1932. Collectors covet any original Universal horror poster, among them the terrifying, unforgettable teaser for 1933’s The Invisible Man also in the summer sale and another of which only a handful are known to exist. But the Frankenstein poster – by the great artist Jacques Faria – is particularly sought- after, as it’s the only known copy and has never before been offered by Heritage. “I was tickled to get that,” said Smith. “It’s the original release – and really, really scarce.” So, too, has the one-sheet for Chapter 10 of The Master Mystery, in which illusionist Harry Houdini and cinema’s first robot make their on-screen debuts. And the original Soviet artwork advertising Sergei Eisenstein and Grigoriy Aleksandrov’s 1928 monumental recreation of the Russian Revolution, October 1917: Ten Days that Shook the World. 5 Another “lost” poster in the July event is the three-sheet for The Lost Squadron, the 1932 film starring Richard Dix, Joel McCrea and Robert Armstrong as World War I aces who find dangerous work as stunt pilots in Hollywood. Smith says just one, maybe two copies are known to exist. But this is the first time in his two decades at Heritage one has come to auction. The same can be said of the one-sheet for Warner Bros.’ 1936 release The Walking Dead, starring Boris Karloff – another that, until now, has eluded Grey Smith’s grasp. But it speaks to the depth and breadth of this auction that this work of horror – by no less than Michael Curtiz, the maker of Casablanca! – is only one of many premier pieces available in the July sale. 6 “Our auctions are a great opportunity for collectors to find the rarest material,” Smith said, “and to have a real shot at it.” The history of film is spread across the 683 lots in the auction, from gorgeous keepsakes representing cinema’s earliest achievements (1927’s Metropolis and 1931’s M) to its most enduring titles (1942’s Casablanca, represented here by several memorable and highly coveted posters, and 1939’s The Wizard of Oz, with rare French and Spanish offerings) to modern-day franchises and blockbusters, including the Star Wars and James Bond films. “This hobby still is in its infancy,” said Smith as he looks over the works spread across the sale. “In years to come, these will be hanging in museums, and people will say, ‘You could have purchased some of these posters for relatively inexpensive prices once upon a time at auction.’ Who won’t know something like Frankenstein 300 years from now? Film is our cultural heritage.” And their posters, too. Heritage Auctions’ Movie Posters event takes place July 25-26. To view high- resolution images of all the lots, register at HA.com. 7 TCM & Bonhams Proudly Present … California Dreaming: Surf and Skate in American Film and Culture July 29 - August 12, 2020 Online Auction Follow the sale online HERE and bid on iconic surfing memorabilia, including items from classics beach movies like Ride the Wild Surf (1964), Gidget (1959) and a recreation of the famous Yater Spoon surfboard from Apocalypse Now (1979). 8 PART 1, PART II, PART III OF OUR JULY MAJOR AUCTION ENDED WITH SENSATIONAL RESULTS Our July Major Auction contained 732 items from all of the world and from every decade, and many different sizes and ran in three parts: Part I Results (COMPLETED $124,814.00 in sales): 230 linenbacked 1-sheets, 3-sheets, 40x60s and a 6-sheet Part II Results (COMPLETED $96,403.00 in sales): 211 linenbacked posters, window cards, and more Part III (COMPLETED $157,750.00 in sales): 291 mostly unbacked posters, campaign books, lobby cards, and more 9 Part I of eMoviePoster.com's September Major Auction begins August 18th! 10 WHY consign your top quality items to us, when there are so many auction houses to choose from? Three reasons: 1) We absolutely get the highest prices overall, when you compare "apples to apples and oranges to oranges". 2) We have the best buyers we have ever had. 3) We absolutely charge the lowest commissions of ANY major auction, at every price level (see the separate section below). IT IS TOO LATE TO CONSIGN TO THE SEPTEMBER MAJOR AUCTION, BUT WE ARE NOW ACCEPTING CONSIGNMENTS FOR OUR 21ST ANNUAL HALLOWEEN AUCTION AND OUR DECEMBER MAJOR AUCTION! Why not contact us today with what you have? 11 Ed - i – torial Last month we presented Part 2 of our National Screen Service article which covered from 1940- 1957. To set the stage, the 1950s brought chaos and diversity to the film industry. To fight the television craze, studios experimented with a wide variety of ideas such as 3D, wide screen films, the oddities of William Castle and much more. Drive-ins were on the rise, so the film industry turned to a younger audience with rock and roll and beach movies. We pick up at this point… Part 3 NSS Takes Control 1957-1980 With all the chaos going on in the movie industry, NSS business was booming. But, with all the oddities and variations, they needed more control of the operational process. The slow-down was waiting for the printing process. Artwork had to be sent out to lithographers to do the physical layout and printing. The dominant in the industry at that time was Morgan Litho. Morgan had won the Litho wars of the past few decades and gobbled up most of the smaller litho shops that handled movie paper. In 1957, NSS made another brilliant move by purchasing a smaller litho company, Continental Litho, and adapting it to their process.